Oman’s green fuels megaproject, being implemented by a consortium of Hong Kong-based InterContinental Energy, Oman’s national energy investment company OQ and the Kuwaiti government-backed energy investor and developer EnerTech is progressing according to a senior InterContinental Energy official.
Co-founder and president Alicia Eastman told Zawya Projects that the project, which will consist of 25 gigawatts (GW) of renewable solar and wind power capacity dedicated to the production of green hydrogen and ammonia, is ” fully on track” for the final investment decision (FID) stage.
“We still aim to have FID by 2025, maybe a bit earlier than expected, with the first offtake agreements to be in place by 2024,” she said on the sidelines. of the Middle East Energy event in Dubai on Monday.
The Green Energy Oman (GEO) project will produce 1.8 million tonnes per year of green hydrogen and up to 10 million tonnes per year of green ammonia, according to the InterContinental Energy website.
Eastman continued, “The original schedule was 2026, and I think we’re trying to get there by 2025, so it’s actually ahead of schedule. The project is being done in three phases. The first phase of the project, about a third of the total capacity, is progressing well, and there may be overlaps as the second phase will begin before the construction of the first phase is completed.”
With an estimated total capital cost of $30 billion, GEO will be one of the largest energy projects in the world, according to the website.
Asked if Intercontinental Energy would undertake similar projects elsewhere in the region, Eastman said: “We currently have four projects. Two in Western Australia, one in Oman and one in Saudi Arabia, we have a memorandum of understanding with Aramco and Modern Industrial Investment Holding. Group, one of our partners since 2008.”
The Aramco MoU, signed in October 2021, involves the development of a green hydrogen and ammonia project in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the company does not plan to enter the UAE in the near future as its model “is to have projects where there is a lot of sun during the day and wind at night.”
“There is no wind here (in the UAE). But, of course, we are interested in other forms of renewable energy, potentially hydroelectric and geothermal, which could be used and increase capacity. obviously happened in specific places, so we have to weigh those factors,” Eastman explained.
The company’s two projects in Western Australia are:
- The Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) includes 26 GW of upstream wind and solar power, capable of producing around 1.8 million tonnes per year of green hydrogen and up to 10 million tonnes per year of ammonia green with an estimated total investment cost of $36. billion.
- Western Green Energy Hub, comprising up to 50 GW of wind/solar power upstream, is equivalent to approximately 20 MTPA of green ammonia downstream with an estimated total capital cost of construction of $70 billion.
(Reporting by Bhaskar Raj; Editing by Anoop Menon)
